[lit-ideas] Economic Growth That Floats All Boats?
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Anthro-L <ANTHRO-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:43:23 +0900
Don't be silly. Unless you've got a real big yacht, this tide isn't coming
in for you.
From Brad Delong via Kevin Drum,
Historically speaking, then, here's what we've got:
* Top 10%: income share stagnant since 1983.
* Top 5%: Income share stagnant since 1995.
* Top 1%: Still rocking and rolling!
This is all pretty rarefied atmosphere, of course. Here's Saez:
2005 shows a very large increase in income concentration: the top 1%
gains 14% in real terms from 2004 while the bottom 99% gains less than
1%….The striking thing about 2003-2005 is the huge increase at the top with
quasi-stagnation below the top 1%. In the late Clinton years, the top gained
enormously but at least the bottom was also making progress.
Median wages have been stagnant since the mid-70s. Today, the wages of
everyone below the top 1% are stagnant. As Andrew Tobias likes to say, it's
a grand time to be rich and powerful in America.
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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